by Martyn Ziegler, Chief Sports Reporter
Authorities in Baku ordered the turnstiles to be opened during the first half of the Europa League final so that some of the empty seats would be filled. The decision, taken without Uefa's authorisation, is believed to have come about because the authorities in Azerbaijan were embarrassed by the thousands of empty seats on television pictures that were seen around the world on Wednesday night.
Chelsea and Arsenal had both returned about half of the 6,000 tickets that each club had been given to sell to fans. The lack of demand was put down to the distance that supporters had to travel, the difficulty in finding direct and convenient flights and the cost. Charter flights laid on by Thomas Cook Sport were priced at almost £1,000.
The empty seats and lack of atmosphere inside the Olympic Stadium in Baku was referenced several times by TV commentators but, after half an hour of the match, many of the seats suddenly filled.
One Arsenal fan told
The Times
: "We were in the Arsenal corner and there were a lot of empty seats and suddenly after about 30 minutes lots of local people arrived, including some kids, and they had been given Arsenal flags to wave."
An employee of Uefa who had been working at the match said that the decision had been taken against the wishes of the governing body's people on the ground but that they had been powerless to prevent it.
Uefa, which has come under sustained criticism for choosing Baku as the venue for the final, is understood to have launched an investigation into the action by the authorities in Azerbaijan. The Olympic Stadium will host four matches in Euro 2020 next year, including one of the quarter-finals.
There has also been criticism of Uefa after the Arsenal forward Henrikh Mkhitaryan's decision not to travel to the final because of political conflict between his home country Armenia and Azerbaijan. There were reports that police in Baku were checking Arsenal fans' shirts to see if they had Mkhitarayan's name on the back.
Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour's shadow sports minister, has called for the Euro 2020 hosting decision to be re-considered. She described the Europa League final as "a mess from the start" and claimed that fans had been "harassed" by police.
She said: "It is completely unacceptable. When Uefa chose Baku, they picked it with one eye on their bank account – with not a care in the world for the fan experience."
Aleksander Ceferin, the Uefa president, insisted on Wednesday that there would be no review of its decision to award Baku the hosting rights for Euro 2020.